Ian Riseley

Ian H.S. Riseley is an Australian accountant and businessman. From 2017 to 2018, he was the president of Rotary International.

Biography

Ian Riseley was the owner of an accounting firm in Australia when, in 1977, one of his clients invited him to speak at the Rotary Club of Cheltenham. He gave a talk on income taxes. He did a few other talks and became a charter member of the Rotary Club of Sandringham in 1978. He was 31.

By the end of the 1970s, an issue arose about admitting women in the organization. He was offered a leadership role to advocate in favour of women membership within the organization. In 1989, the Rotary Club of Cheltenham opened to women memberships.

His first hands-on project was the construction of a shelter for commuters (especially the seniors) waiting for the bus in Sandringham. Since the 1980s, he majorly contributed to the Rotary International's effort to eradicate polio. In 2017, only 22 cases of polio were declared worldwide. This was the fifth year in 112 years of existence that the Rotary international had an Australian president.

Publications

Stéphanie Wollard, From a Tin Shed to the United Nations (foreword by Ian Riseley)